Tyco Completes Transpacific Network

Photonics.comDec 2002
MORRISTOWN, N.J., Dec. 20 -- Tyco Telecommunications announced that the Pacific ring of the Tyco Global Network has been completed, connecting North America and the Pacific Rim. The Pacific Ring of Tyco Transpacific consists of a total cable length of approximately 18,000 km, including two direct trans-Pacific cables from Oregon to Japan, with extensions to California and Guam. The cable was designed to provide a total capacity of more than 5Tb/s per cable across the ring when fully equipped.

The Pacific ring of the Tyco Global Network represents the first application of a new ultrawide band fiber that manages the dispersion slope across the entire usable transmission band, the company said. This new design uses two specially designed fiber types that are "matched" in properties within each 45-kilometer repeater span to create a transmission fiber optic path that has very wide-band operation.

Fibers that meet these specifications, known as UltraWave SLA and IDF fibers, were provided by OFS, as a result of collaborations between Tyco Telecommunications and OFS engineers and scientists.

"The close relationship between Tyco and OFS engineers allowed us to convert a laboratory demonstration into a real system in less than two years," said David Kalish, CTO and vice president of research and development for optical fiber and cable at OFS.